Did union vote prompt billionaire Joe Ricketts to close down digital news sites?

"We look forward to working with management to come up with a contract that safeguards workers and ensures the editorial and financial future of both outlets," their organizing committee declared last week. "This vote came after a long campaign for voluntary recognition, and we want to thank everyone who supported our effort to protect the workers of DNAinfo and Gothamist, which have been widely recognized as indispensable to local and neighborhood news in New York City.”

Owner Ricketts said screw it to all that and announced that he was shutting down the New York operations, as well as ones (that hadn't voted for unionization) in Chicago, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles. A total of 115 employees, including journalists and ad salespeople, are now out in the cold."The sites were scrubbed clean, wiping out years of reporting and making it impossible for DNA journalists to find links to their stories."